Regis and its associate labels are well worth following closely.
While their historical operatic and aria revivals have come
in for some stick in some quarters their harvest of Soviet music
is admirable. Their licensing sources include Olympia, Sanctuary-ASV and
Melodiya direct. With the present disc we are firmly in analogue
territory. The leaflet cover is a bit cheesy but the recordings
are classics and are very sound - red-blooded even. The name
of Kondrashin might cause one or two of the faithful to falter.
After all if you know of his Shostakovich through the BMG-Melodiya
series of the late 1990s then you will probably associate him
with harsh and scrawny sound. Not so in the later Aulos and
Melodiya sets and not so here. We get instead a grown-up balance
which treats dynamics with respect.

The Second Violin Concerto has the sort of atmosphere and patent
concentration you could cut with a knife. This three movement
work is raw, stark, pessimistic without being dismal and violent
especially in the finale adagio-allegro. Listen to the dialogue
between the violin and the brass benches. The emotional temperature
rises in corrosive waves and acidic attack. The final fff
thud is the one point at which the technology momentarily throws
in the towel and distorts. The balance throughout the concerto
is pretty natural.

Not so with the Symphony No. 15 which is from 1974 and is unremittingly
close-up. The music-making is flighty, witty, brusque and serious.
The quotations from Rossini and Wagner work startlingly well.
The hoarse-coarse woodwind in the Allegretto is delightfully
roughened and resinous. Not everything is a vitriolic for example
the almost sentimental melody that caresses the ear at 12:45
in the finale. The mesmerising percussion pitter-patter of the
last few moments, its chronometer references and the kettle
drum motif create busy and pregnant tension. These performances
have the feel of verisimilitude, of fidelity to the composer's
wishes.

The recordings were made while the composer was alive so he
may have been present for the sessions. The generously detailed
notes are by Jeffrey Davis who is always good with Soviet material.

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